Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Module 1 - The Entrepreneurial Spirit
Module 1 - The Entrepreneurial Spirit
Entrepreneur
Module one
The Entrepreneurial Spirit
Module One - The Entrepreneurial Spirit
Objectives
In this lesson you will:
Listening Assignments
To prepare for your work in this module, please read/review the following sections:
• Before You Quit Your Job—Introduction
• Your personalized Winslow Dynamics Profile
To help you to understand the meaning and implications of the 24 separate personality
traits, the Winslow Profile assembles them into one of four “Personality Trait Groups.”
The traits within each group have the greatest mutual influence on one another, even
though some of these traits also may influence personality characteristics in other Per-
sonality Trait Groups. The four Personality Trait Groups are as follows:
Interpersonal Traits
Interpersonal traits influence the quality and effectiveness of your interactions with
managers, colleagues, subordinates, friends, family members, and others. These traits
help to answer such questions as: How well do you interact and get along with others?
What is your communication style? How well do you establish and maintain relation-
ships? The interpersonal traits included in the Winslow Profile are:
• Sociability. Your Sociability score indicates your degree of preference toward
social interaction and your sense of comfort in certain social situations —for in-
stance, whether you prefer activities that you can undertake alone or with family
and close friends versus those that require group involvement.
Organizational Traits
Organizational traits affect your ability to organize, control, and marshal the various
elements of your physical and interpersonal environment to a specific task or purpose.
These organizational traits help answer such questions as: How do you function within
your environment? How successful are you in controlling, influencing, or motivating
people and situations around you? How well do solve problems and make decisions?
The organizational traits included in the Winslow Profile are:
• Alertness. Your Alertness score indicates your overall mental ability—particu-
larly, the speed with which you can grasp new ideas and concepts and com-
prehend complex relationships—and hence how easily you can adapt to new
environments and unexpected situations.
• Structure. Your Structure score represents your ability to structure your think-
ing and to organize your thoughts, and the importance that you place on hav-
ing accurate, complete, and definitive information before making a decision.
• Order. Your Order score describes you organizational abilities—whether or not
you consider it important to keep your personal effects and surroundings neat
and orderly, and whether or not you are bothered by disorganization or disor-
derliness in others.
• Flexibility. Your Flexibility score depicts your openness to innovation, new
ideas, and new and different experiences, and your degree of acceptance of or
resistance to change in your personal and work lives.
• Creativity. Your Creativity score represents the degree to which you are willing
to explore new methods, systems, or techniques in order to accomplish given
tasks, and the value that you place on “tried and true” practices versus new,
potentially more efficient ones.
Dedication Traits
Dedication traits determine your level of commitment to and persistence in achieving
success, in living up to your standards and potential, and in pursuing your organiza-
tion’s mission. These traits help to answer such questions as: How committed are you
to your own personal success and to making the most of your talents and abilities?
How committed are you to your organization, its mission, and the people within it? How
much energy and effort are you willing to devote to your success in these areas? The
dedication traits included in the Winslow Profile are:
• Ambition. Your Ambition score depicts your “goal orientation”—that is, wheth-
er you are more inclined to set goals and strive for career success and personal
achievement, or to accept conditions largely as they are and to just enjoy living
from day-to-day.
• Endurance. Your Endurance score represents your overall energy level and
persistence, especially the time and physical effort that you are willing to put
forth in order to complete a task or to accomplish a goal.
• Assertiveness. Your Assertiveness score represents the degree to which you
are inclined to be assertive and insistent in a given situation or relationship or,
conversely, the degree to which you are more likely to be passive and let others
take the initiative.
• Boldness. Your Boldness score describes your forwardness in situations and
relationships, including how spontaneous, venturesome, and risk-taking you
may be.
• Coachability. Your Coachability score indicates your respect for managers and
the management process, and your receptiveness to direction, feedback, and
even criticism from those in a position of authority.
• Leadership. Your Leadership score represents your desire to control your envi-
ronment, to direct others, and to manage work tasks and processes, and your
willingness to assume the responsibility for such activities.
Self-Control Traits
Self-control traits characterize your normal emotional state—in particular, your ability
to cope with stress and to control your emotions in stressful or challenging situations.
Self-control traits help to answer such questions as: What is your view of stress, chal-
lenges, and roadblocks? How do you react when things don’t go as planned? How
quickly do you recover from disappointments and setbacks? The self-control traits
included in the Winslow Profile are:
• Self-Confidence. Your Self-Confidence score describes the confidence and
assuredness that you feel about your skills and talents, and your ability to
handle yourself in relationships, interactions with others, and work situations.
• Composure. Your Composure score represents the degree to which you are
able to control your emotions in stressful or difficult situations, and the degree
to which you are likely to become moody or easily annoyed.
• Tough-Minded. Your Tough-Minded score indicates how you react when fac-
ing challenges and reaction—whether you tend to be tough-minded and “buck
up,” or to be sensitive and easily bothered or deterred by the criticism of others.
• Autonomy. Your Autonomy score reveals the degree to which you need to
function independently—specifically, whether you prefer to accomplish tasks
predominantly on your own or to work with others in a group setting.
• Contentment. Your Contentment score indicates how contented or satisfied
you are with key aspects of your career and personal life, and the importance
that you place on changing or improving these situations.
• Control. Your Control score signifies your desire to make spur-of-the-moment
(and sometimes hasty and rash) decisions versus carefully planning your actions
and analyzing and understanding all of the likely consequences ahead of time.
For instance, “ambition” is popularly viewed as working hard or having career goals,
but in the Winslow Profile, the word has the very specific meaning of rigorously adher-
ing to the objectives established for a given task. Thus, if the Winslow Profile says that
you score low in Ambition, it doesn’t signify that you are lazy or don’t work hard. It just
means that being single-mindedly focused on an objective isn’t one of your greatest
strengths. Likewise, a low score in Nurturance doesn’t mean that you are an uncaring
person. It may simply indicate that you do not do well in recognizing how others ask
for assistance. So, in order to get the most out of your personal Winslow Profile, avoid
jumping to conclusions and try to understand what your trait scores are truly indicating.
Once you understand what is being measured, then you are ready to look at your
scores. Usually, in other tests or surveys, when an item is rated on a scale from 1 to 10,
10 is considered to be more positive and 1 to be less positive. This is not always the
case with the Winslow Profile. In some traits, of course, this principle holds: you proba-
bly want to score higher rather than lower in Self-Confidence, for instance. Low scores
in some areas, however, are not necessarily cause for concern unless you believe that
these traits may be holding you back. For example, a low score in Sociability indicates
that you are more introverted than extroverted. This may matter a great deal if you are
launching a sales-focused business, but not much if your business is more technically
In other words, low scores shouldn’t be viewed in a negative light unless they are
relevant to your particular situation or the type of business that you are seeking to start.
Keep in mind also that the trait descriptions explain how most people with a score
similar to yours would behave. Some of the examples or conclusions given may not be
completely descriptive of your own personal situation or actions. However, the basic
concept behind each example should be relevant to your behavioral style.
It is important as well for you to understand how related traits work together. Every trait
description in your profile is written as if you scored a 5 in the other trait areas. Low
scores in other areas can accentuate the negative aspects of a given trait, while high
scores can do just the opposite. For instance, if you scored relatively low in Flexibility,
your profile might describe you as rigid, unchanging, uncompromising, or stubborn.
That description by itself would not be favorable for personal or professional success.
But what if you also scored very high in the related traits of Self-Confidence, Creativity,
Boldness, or Assertiveness? Taken together, this combination of trait scores more likely
would represent a person who, through prior experience, had learned from his mis-
takes, had thoroughly thought out alternative ways of doing things, and had arrived at
a range of specific and tested solutions that worked well for him or her. In other words,
rather than being stubborn, you probably would be considered disciplined and strate-
gic—traits that clearly are associated with success in many different realms.
Exercise
o apply the information in this module, please complete the assignments below and
T
fax or email a copy to your coach.
• Understanding Your Behavioral Traits
Before you can build on your strengths, of course, you first must know what they are.
One of the key aspects of personal strengths is that none of us is blessed with exactly
the same set of strengths as everyone else. Each of us possesses our own unique
combination of strengths and abilities that comprise the portfolio of personal character-
istics that represent who we really are. As you look back on your life, you no doubt will
be able to see how these strengths contributed to many positive experiences—both in
the work environment and among family, friends, and colleagues.
The Influential Traits section of your Winslow Profile will provide you with additional de-
tails about the impact that some of your personality traits likely have on your business
and personal relationships. The Influential Traits section will include only those traits that
scored very high (8, 9, or 10) or very low (1, 2, or 3) on the Winslow scale. Each Influen-
tial Trait description reflects your probable emotions and behavior in key areas of your
personality. The emphasis in the analysis supplied with each trait description is on how
these characteristics may affect your goal of becoming a successful entrepreneur and
business owner.
Some of the Influential Traits discussed in this analysis will enhance your success and
happiness in entrepreneurship and other realms, while other traits will diminish your
performance and may create problems for you or your team. Whether a trait serves
as an asset or a liability depends upon your specific profession or business type, your
team members, and the particular role within this team that you have assigned yourself.
A characteristic that would be an asset in one situation or industry could serve as a
liability in a different setting. For example, a high score in Sociability is generally consid-
ered to be an asset for salespeople and in sales-oriented businesses, since most sales
positions require outgoing, highly sociable individuals. On the other hand, a reserved
personality (as indicated by a low score in Sociability) is usually an asset for technical
professionals such as accountants, economic analysts, computer programmers, and
other high-focus positions, as these roles demand intense concentration on data and
things rather than on people.
Because you know something of the requirements of being a business owner in the
field that you plan to enter, you already may have some insights into the strengths that
would make you most successful in this role. Your coach and Winslow Profile will of-
fer still more ideas. Ultimately, however, the greatest insights will come from your own
study and reflection, both on your own and with members of your team.
Your Winslow Profile provides specific suggestions and space for you to create a
“Personal Action Plan” to enhance each of your identified strengths. Use them! As you
prepare to integrate these results into your daily activities and to create an action plan
for building on your individual strengths, you may find the following suggestions helpful:
• Before setting goals or creating a personal-development program for yourself,
read through your Winslow Profile several times. Doing so will help you to better
grasp the meaning of your individual personality traits and how they relate to one
another.
• Consider sharing your report with your colleagues and team members, your
spouse, and trusted friends and co-workers. Select people with whom you in-
teract closely and who know you very well. Discuss with them their perceptions
of your behavior and performance in relation to your personality and attitudes
as described in the report.
• After you have read your report several times and discussed it with others,
refer to the Influential Traits section. Read the first description and concentrate
on this one particular trait. Think about it carefully. As objectively as possible,
determine if what is written is an accurate description of your behavior in this
area. Even if every example does not precisely relate to you, is the description
fundamentally correct?
• With this description in mind, think about specific past situations in your busi-
ness and personal life in which this trait has had a positive influence on your
behavior. Analyze the ways in which it improved your effectiveness and/or
enhanced your happiness. Then consider how you could use that trait to the
same effect as an entrepreneur and business owner.
• Now think about other circumstances and situations in your business and per-
sonal life in which this particular trait has had a negative influence. How did it
limit your performance or prevent you from attaining the maximum success and
happiness that you desired? What could you have done differently to produce
a better result? What could you do differently in the future to maximize your
chances for success as an entrepreneur?
• Decide if you are content with your current behavior in this area or if you would
like to control or change it. Review the Comments section for this trait. Think
about the suggestions presented, as well as others you may come up with
on your own, that could help you to improve in this area. Should you desire
to change this characteristic, determine exactly what you will do to change it.
Establish a definitive plan of action, including measurable goals for yourself.
Write them down. Then make certain that you follow your plan. You may even
wish to share your goals with your colleagues and team members, your spouse
or other family members, or close friends in order to obtain their support and
solicit their feedback as your goals apply to certain important situations.
• Repeat the above procedure for each trait in the Influential Traits section. As
you proceed, it is imperative that you explore the relationship among each of
the Influential Traits, particularly those that are in the same trait groups. How
does each characteristic affect other traits in various situations? Which traits are
most dominant? Which are most helpful? Which are most harmful? Which are
the most persistent and which are the most changeable? Which can you best
control and under what circumstances? Knowing the answers to these ques-
tions will better enable you to marshal these strengths as you seek to achieve
greater entrepreneurial, business, and personal success.
Exercise
o apply the information in this module, please complete the assignments below and
T
fax or email a copy to your coach.
• Identifying Your Strengths
As you consider these obstacles, avoid being hard on yourself. None of us can be
good at everything. There are certain traits and talents that simply don’t come naturally
to you. In addition, there are some traits and talents that others might view as important
that will never really matter that much to you personally. That’s perfectly fine—after all,
this is your life, not theirs. Hence, as you examine your Winslow Profile, don’t worry that
not every low score is of concern to you. Focus on the ones that are of concern—it is
these traits and talents to which you will want to devote your attention as you work to
overcome internal obstacles to your success.
As you review your Winslow Profile, you also may find that some of the traits in which
you exhibit weaknesses seem to be connected and that some traits where you score
low may be adversely affecting others. For example, if your Self-Confidence score is
low, that trait alone may undermine your ability to be assertive, ambitious, or creative.
Improving your performance in low-scoring areas requires not only that you overcome
challenges in individual trait areas, but that you remedy problems caused by the interre-
lationships among these traits as well. On the other hand, if you can identify core traits
or behaviors that may be holding you back, correcting deficiencies in those specific
respects may improve your performance in a wide variety of other trait areas.
However, there may be areas of your life in which you feel driven to become better
organized because disorganization in these areas is undermining certain other aspects
of your life that are important to you. In this case, you could create a system that allows
you to bring order to that area of your life by relying on other strengths that you do
have. By thinking about the strengths at your disposal, either within yourself or within
your team or organization, you often can discover previously unrealized ways of over-
coming the obstacles you face or even turning them into strengths of your own.
The most successful individuals tend to surround themselves with people who pos-
sess strengths that they themselves do not have. For example, David Neeleman,
founder and former chairman of jetBlue Airlines, was diagnosed with attention-def-
icit disorder (ADD) at age 39. Throughout his entire life, he knew that he was natu-
rally disorganized, easily forgot or lost things, and was hyperactive, even though
he was extremely creative. Yet long before his diagnosis, he had devised ways of
successfully dealing with these challenges and overcoming the obstacles that they
presented in his life.
For instance, he created routines and systems that forced him to focus on mat-
ters of great importance. He always placed his wallet and keys in the same place
at home. He always made sure that he was wearing a watch with an alarm and
data storage in order to remind him of appointments and phone numbers. Most
importantly, he made it a practice to surround himself with staff members who were
naturally organized. As he came up with exciting new ideas, he would delegate to
others the task of bringing them to fruition. In so doing, he freed himself to focus
completely on the vision of the company, on obtaining feedback from customers,
and on developing still more great new ideas. The result? Amid one of the airline
industry’s most challenging times in its history, Neeleman and his team created a
model of financial success, public admiration, and unmatched customer service.
As you work to overcome your own personal challenges and weaknesses, one of the
keys to achieving your goals in this area will be to create an action plan for dealing with
each area of concern. As you devise your plans, remember to include:
• Ways that you can personally minimize the impact of weakness, natural tenden-
cies, or areas of concern on your success.
• Ways that you can use your strengths to complement or compensate for your
areas of concern.
• Ways that you can use the strengths of others within your team or organization
to help you in your areas of concern so that you can free yourself to focus on
building up and profiting from your strengths.
With an action plan like this in place, even your weaknesses and obstacles can be-
come strengths as well—and your prospects for success in life, in business, and as an
entrepreneur and business owner will be enhanced that much more.
Product remove once in modX
Exercise
o apply the information in this module, please complete the assignments below and
T
submit a copy to your coach.
• Identifying Your Areas for Improvement
• Preparing for Your Session